Ray's Top 25: Boise State bouncing back

Ray's Top 25: Boise State bouncing back

Every week, our Senior Decider votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which of course makes all other opinions both superfluous and valueless (hey, dont say you never get your moneys worth here).

So here, after Week Seven, is the world of college football, whether you like it or not. And if you dont, theres a new one next week you might like better.

RELATED: Ratto's Week Seven rankings

1 Alabama Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. 2 Oregon If you just took first halves, an easy No. 1. Second halves, they'd be 63rd. 3 Kansas State Taught West Virginia a valuable lesson about moving costs. 4 Florida Edged South Carolina by almost five scores. 5 Oklahoma Kansas remains un-good. 6 Florida State At Miami is a good win. A very good win. 7 Louisiana State Texas A&amp;M gave the Tigers all they could eat, but the Tigers ate all they needed. 8 Notre Dame The wins are nice, the opponents strong, the margins unsettling. 9 Oregon State Not their best game, but good enough. 10 Mississippi State The last gimme. 11 Rutgers They continue to decline the opportunity to be exposed. 12 Texas Tech Scored more in their overtime than Notre Dame did all day. 13 Southern California They're not back yet, but they can see it from where they're standing. 14 Georgia Kentucky by five? This is not an inspirational moment. 15 Clemson Virginia Tech must not be very Virginia Tech this year. 16 Ohio State Purdue in overtime, plus a catastrophic injury doesn't make anyone in Columbus happy. 17 South Carolina Quite the comeuppance for the Ol' Ball Coach. 18 Louisville Barely beat South Florida. 19 Texas A&amp;M Doesn't deserve to drop after performance against LSU. 20 Toledo Second-best team in the state maybe? 21 Ohio Or is it these guys, who were off this week? 22 Boise State Quietly winning since early stumble. 23 Northern Illinois One loss, to Iowa. You make room for that. 24 Louisiana Tech 70 against Idaho is probably running it up, but sometimes it can't be helped. 25 Cincinnati This could have been lots of teams (Tulsa, West Virginia), but Toledo loss is no shame.

Pac-12 basketball teams near Barcelona terrorist attack safe

AP

Pac-12 basketball teams near Barcelona terrorist attack safe

Men's basketball teams from Oregon State, Clemson and Arizona were staying at a hotel in Barcelona, Spain, near where a van drove into pedestrians on Thursday, but team officials said everyone was safe.

Spanish police have confirmed they are investigating the bloodshed in Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas district as a terror attack. The area is a popular summer tourist spot.

Tulane also was playing in Barcelona, but it was unclear if they were staying in the same hotel as the other teams.

Oregon State assistant coach Gregg Gottlieb posted to Facebook: "We are all luckily ok. Our hotel/restaurant is located right on Las Ramblas. This tragedy happened right in front of us as our team just sat down for pregame meal. Thoughts and prayers for all those that are were hurt."

The Beavers' game Thursday night was canceled. It was supposed to be the first of a five-game tour.

Clemson was scheduled to play Thursday night against a Spanish All-Star team.

"We've been in contact with our men's basketball program currently in Barcelona and the entire travel party is safe and secure. Their exhibition game for tonight has been cancelled and the team will return to Clemson as previously scheduled tomorrow morning. Our thoughts are with the people of Barcelona," the South Carolina school said in a statement.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell confirmed in a text to The Associated Press that the three teams were staying in the same hotel.

Replying to a Twitter inquiry from a Portland television about whether the team was OK, Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle responded: "Yes we are, happened directly in front of our hotel while we were having a team meal in the restaurant, so senseless and sad! All accounted4."

Oregon State said it has not yet determined the remaining schedule for the team, which was supposed to be on the exhibition tour until Aug. 25.

A spokesman for Arizona said the Wildcats have canceled their third and final exhibition of their tour and "are currently working on travel plans to return home."

The future of Cal athletics, or lack thereof

The future of Cal athletics, or lack thereof

Your education dollars are always at work, so it is with pride and bewilderment that we report that the University of California’s incoming class (2021, for those few who can get out in four years) marched to Memorial Stadium and formed the world’s largest human letter.

It was . . . wait for it . . . a “C.” A 7,196-person-strong “C.”

But the school, as it occasionally does, missed a golden opportunity to seize a golden opportunity. All they needed to do was have a quick whip-round, get $55,586.44 from each and every one of the captives . . . er, students, and they could have wiped out their entire athletics deficit in one night.

You see, while forming gigantic letters is always fun (or as the kids used to say when double negatives didn’t mean voting, never not fun), Cal is staring at quite possibly the bleakest future a major athletic university ever has. The athletic department, whose chief officer, Mike Williams, has just announced his intention to quit, is over $400 million in debt between construction costs, ambition, shrinking allegiance and the absence of a Phil Knight-level sugar daddy to buy the pain away.

And before you blame Williams, he inherited this indigestible planetoid from his predecessor, Sandy Barbour, who grew it from her predecessor, Steve Gladstone, and hastened it from . . . well, you get the drift.

Cal’s been blowing through money it hasn’t been taking in for years upon years, didn’t realize the deficit-cutting benefits of the Pac-12 Network (because they largely don’t exist), and the day of reckoning looms closer and closer, especially now that new chancellor Carol Christ (no apparent relation) described the deficit as “corrosive” and has insisted that the athletic department have a balanced budget by 2020.

In short, the school may only be able to afford a lower-case “C” before too long. Maybe in comic sans.